16th CSG Soldiers support civil affairs mission

Photo By Sgt. Spencer Case | Maj. Vernon McClearn, the installation chaplain for Logistical Support Area Adder, hands bags of school supplies to students in a school near Nasiriyah in a civil affairs mission, April 12.  

TALLIL, IRAQ

05.05.2006

Courtesy Story

207th Public Affairs Detachment

CAMP ADDER, Iraq - Troops in Iraq have added a new word to military vernacular for those who rarely, or never, leave base - "fobbits."

For many Soldiers at Camp Adder, the opportunity to participate in civil affairs missions have been welcome escapes from the monotony of fobbitdom.

Until recently, Pfc. Yvonne Delorme, the command secretary for the 16th Corps Support Group, had only left the installation once since her arrival in Iraq in November for a brief mission to Camp Cedar II in which she only saw Iraq from the window of a vehicle.

In April, however, Delorme was able to get up close and personal. She was one of 22 troops who went on a school drop mission organized by the 148th Support Battalion and the 16th CSG. Delorme spent an hour pulling security in a humvee and handing out packages of school supplies to the local school children in a village between Camp Adder and Nasiriya.

"When we went to Cedar, I only got to see what was on the side of the streets, just driving by," Delorme said. "But today I actually see more inside the culture, I guess you could say, inside the school and the people and how they live."

Capt. James Towle, the civil military operations officer for the 16th CSG saw the need for Soldiers stuck on post to go along on some of their missions, commenting that some troops were stuck in an office 'twelve months out of the year." He contacted Capt. Carl Mills, the civil military operations officer for the 148th to see if some of his Soldiers could accompany them on some of their frequent civil affairs missions for a mutually beneficial arrangement.

"We could take over some of our supplies and help them out," Towle said, "and in turn these people who wanted to go off post and wanted to do the humanitarian thing, instead of just being stuck in an office all day, could go out and do that."
Towle added that many troops are excited to go off post.

"I know I constantly have people ask me "hey, when is your next school mission? I wanna go outside the wire, I wanna hop in," so they definitely like going out and doing it," Towle said.

Not all Soldiers are so eager to leave the relative safety of the installation. Sgt. Dorice Wilson, a medic with Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 2nd Battalion 121st Infantry Regiment, was happy to spend her first four months in Iraq on post.

"I was really afraid," Wilson said. "When I first got here they had shown me so many videos of IEDs (improvised explosive devices) and people being killed that I was terrified."

In January, Wilson finally let her fear go when Mills invited her to accompany the 148th in a school drop mission. She has been going off post regularly ever since, participating in a variety of civil affairs operations. Some of her most memorable experiences have been from medical civil assistance programs where she provide free medical treatment for locals.

Today, Wilson is no longer terrified at the thought of going "outside the wire." She is animated when she speaks about cultural curiosities such as the clothing, the customs and the food - which she gave mixed reviews. When asked if she hoped to have more opportunities to leave post during her tour she replied with an emphatic "yes."

"It's made the whole mission worth it," Wilson said.

• Date Taken: 05.05.2006
• Date Posted: 05.05.2006 03:00
• Story ID: 6278
• Location: TALLIL, IQ